By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday February 8, 2023
France's Arthur Fils backed up his victory over Richard Gasquet with an upset of Roberto Bautista Agut in Montpellier.
Photo Source: Tennis TV
French teenager Arthur Fils has achieved his two biggest wins by ranking at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.
On Wednesday the World No.163 took out 24th-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-4, to become the first player younger than Carlos Alcaraz to reach an ATP quarterfinal.
Fils, the 2021 Boys singles runner up at Roland-Garros, had never won an ATP match prior to this week.
The wild card defeated Richard Gasquet, 7-5 7-5, in the first round.
Fils, who will turn 19 on June 12, went 9-1 on the challenger circuit prior to this week’s appearance in Montpellier. He has already jumped from 163 to 141 in the ATP live rankings as a result of Wednesday’s win.
He is the first player born in 2004 or later to reach an ATP quarterfinal.
In other action on Wednesday in Montpellier, No.2-seeded Jannik Sinner advanced into the quarterfinals via walkover when Marton Fucsovics pulled out due to injury.
No.5-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina reached the secon round when Ugo Humbert was forced to retire due to injury after a scary fall in the second set, 1-6, 7-6(2) RET.
Gregoire Barrere defeated Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-7(12), 7-6(3), which caused the Kazakh to demolish three racquets in the process.